Women And Energy
By LeAnna J. Carey | May 04, 2011
There is a great deal written about women and success. It's fascinating to read about the success journeys of women and how they know when to make the right moves. Let's take a look at a basic ingredient to success - energy. How does energy impact our lives?
We are all born with a unique body clock and getting in sync with our body rhythms will produce the energy and vitality needed for our optimal personal and professional productivity. For example, sunlight and temperature cycles regulate the timing and effectiveness of basic behaviors such as sleep, physical stamina, cognitive performance, alertness and appetite. If you are cooped up in an office all day, chances are, your energy starts to deplete sometime in the afternoon. Taking a break for even 5-10 minutes will reset your energy levels. The midday sunlight will increase your mental alertness, the movement will warm your core, and the fresh air will stimulate your breathing.
One important tip to remember is that what we eat is only half of the equation - appetite and metabolism are intricately related to sleep and light exposure. One recent study found that just a single night of insufficient sleep leads to increased appetite and the consumption of 350 to 500 more calories than are consumed after a night of 7 to 8 hours sleep. Nothing diminishes your productivity or how you feel about yourself, more than feeling sluggish and bloated.
Understanding when your greatest stamina peak is huge. Studies have clearly demonstrated that in healthy adults, physical stamina is greatest in the afternoon. The later afternoon peak in core body temp and the mid-afternoon decrease in skin blood flow may be the reason. I find that I am the most productive late to mid afternoon; please don't call me before 10 AM, I'm really not myself.
The absolute most important energy tip is to get your sleep! Start winding down a couple of hours before you go to bed. Turn it all off..your iPhone, iPad, laptop, television. Here's the reason why: the light at night can cause elevated night time cortisol and slow wave sleep disruption.
Start making a few of these lifestyle changes and you may find that success is waiting for you right around the corner, and all that you ever needed was to turn out the lights! To listen to Dr. Virginia Gurley, MD talk more on finding your stamina peaks listen here!
Comments on “Women And Energy”
CASUDI May 05, 2011
Two things recently contributed to my increased energy (sleep is a given and the right kind of sleep).
1) Understanding my “Peak” productive times. In the past it used to be 11pm to 1am and now I am an early bird and find my most productive time is 5-7am, with an added burst after 10am (good for calls) and after 2pm for a couple of hours problem solving. Understanding these “peaks” can really help… so I don’t try to write or take important calls after 4pm.
2) The second has to do with metabolism (and mine is slow and always has been. Yes, I’ve dieted away hundred’s of pounds through the years!) and what made the difference is what I recently read on #quora which focused on eating slowly. I am not sure if you have ever covered this in the past, however if not I recommend you consider it for a future post. However, the end results were eating less, so less energy for digestion and more for productive work. Losing weight slowly. Sleeping better. I am happy to share the nitty-gritty details with you, which make up my changed eating habits, perhaps more accurately changed behavior, as this was major for me the “quick bite” aficionado. And that’s quick as in high speed!
Thank you for bringing this post and your blog to my attention.
@CASUDI
Sharon @growinggold May 05, 2011
I would love to see you call this - or focus in even more - on the notion of “finding your peak sync!” whew, that just spilled out! ... I think there could be great value in helping people decipher that for themselves. For me, as I read this, I realized I’ve always known my ‘low time’ of day; but interesingly, I wasn’t as clear about when IS my peak time of day. Had to think about it. Would be a very valuable to focus in on helping people identify their own personal peak, as that could help people maximize for much greater efficiency in use of energy, yes? Learning the natural ebb and flow of your own body clock - and even more importantly, really honoring that - is extremely important to maximizing one’s productivity - and ALL things in fact! I hope you will grow this!! I would love to see more ~ Thank you!
Lea Carey May 10, 2011
Dear CASUDI & Sharon,
Thank you so very much for your insights and commets! What is really fantastic is that both of you are very engaged women ~ your energy absolutely comes through online. We are beta testing our application and your input would be incredibly valuable! Please let us know your thoughts: http://auraviva.com/iphone-app, is where you can give it a try to figure out your personal life rhythm, or circadian synchrony. We would love your comments. Most of the women I meet are working for that work/life balance and discovering where to find that energy is becoming more and more of a personal priority. Sharon, you could not be more spot on, maximizing personal productivity, in all things, is the key to balance. CAUSDI, your peak time is my sleep time! I’ve always been envious of early birds! Be well, Lea